Before military action, SM Stirling's Tom Christiansen thinks about praying to:
Jesus;
Old Scratch;
the Lutheran God;
Odhinn One-Eye.
-Conquistador, pp. 540-541.
I have read that Odin was sometimes called the False or Faithless because men went into battle expecting victory and did not get it.
Does it make sense to pray? I think that:
there are two kinds of spiritual practice, prayer for theists, meditation for non-theists;
however, there are also two kinds of prayer - the prayer of monotheist faith as against the pagan/agnostic appeal to "whatever gods may be"/an unknown god/to whom it may concern etc.
We can all utter the second kind of prayer now and again, while meanwhile relying on our own best efforts in case we really are on our own. My practice is meditation, not prayer, but I do ask for help in case there is anyone able to give it.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Or, as in "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," the legend has Wotan/Odin BETRAYING the warriors who invoked him.
And as the saying goes, "God helps those who help themselves." That is, we cannot and should not be passive, we have to ACTIVELY do what we can as well as praying to God.
Sean
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